Land Rover Monthly – October 2019

LANDROVER MONTHLY 35

■ThomWestcott is a British freelance journalist who has written

for the Times andGuardian, and now mostly spends her time

reporting from Libya.

W

RESTLING with thesteering

wheel of anex-armyLWB

Defender climbingover rocks

in the Lake District, Irealise it

must havebeenover a decade

since I lastwent off-roading.

I feel out of shape and out of

practice, and there’sstill another

four and a half hours to go.

Tobe honest, I hadevenstruggled on theroad.Perhaps

Lake District off-road adventure company Kankku gaveme the

toughest old beast amongst their fleet, as I can’t imagine a total

LandRover novice handling thisvehicle much better.

“Come on LandRover owner,” cracklesexpedition leader

Brian’s voiceover theradio. Cruelly crunching the gears as Ire-

peatedly try to locate second, I shamefacedlyregretever having

mentioned my Lightweight.

The gearstick mercifully slips into second andwe’re off again,

following Brian’s bright orange LandRover up towards another

off-roadstretch.

Driving intoWindemere (in a hire car) two days ago, one of

the first things I sawwas a lovely littlerow of drab oliveex-army

Defenders, temptingly parked up under an invitation for off-

road adventures. After finding a parking

spot, my friendPete and Iwalked back

and grabbed a flyer. “Take the wheel

andexplore the Lake DistrictNational

Park onyourown or tackle the toughest

terrain with a guide,” encouraged the

leaflet.It looked good, it sounded good,

butwas also quite pricey, at leastbymy

penuriousstandards.

“Do Ireallywant to spend that kind

of money on driving someone else’s old

LandRover around when I can drive my

own for free?” I asked aloud,strolling

through awoody glade down to Lake

Windermere. Perusing the leaflet,Pete

made a “hmmm” of acknowledgement before saying: “It looks

pretty good and I‘ve not done anything like that myself. Mind

you, just five mileswas pretty uncomfortable inyours.”

This Lake District trip is ostensibly one man’s heroic attempt

to prove to an ignorant southerner, who thinks anything beyond

Watford is “the grim north”, that northern England can give her

Dartmoor andSouthWest Coast a run for their money. Intro-

ducingPete to the pleasures of off-roading and the performance

capabilities of LandRovers (rather than just their discomfort)

could be my contribution to our northernexplorations.

Although Iwouldn’t want to shell out several hundred quid to

trundle through country lanes, I figured if therewas some de-

cent off-roading to be had, it could beworth it. I phonedowner

and company founderNick to find out more. A ten-minute chat

had me sold, and now hereweare, our little convoyof three

LandRovers trundling up hill and down dale.

While I battle with the terrain,Pete is entranced.Heleans

forward like a child,watchingeverything, filming, photograph-

ing and making appreciativeexpostulations in a thick Lanca-

shire accent, when he’s not helpfullyreiterating Brian’s radioed

instructions.Perhapswomen aren’t so brilliant at multi-tasking

after all, as I’m finding it quite hard to listen whilekeeping the

vehicle under control and ensuring my vulnerable thumbs are

firmly on the outside of thesteering wheel.Atleast afteryears

of Lightweight driving, I’m adept atkeeping my footwell away

from the clutch.

Healso makes flattering comments about my driving skills,

which seem entirely unjustified, as I’m frankly embarrassed that

I’m not handling this better.

With the adrenalin pumping and my arm muscles protesting,

it’s something of arelief whenPete takes the wheel.He’s never

driven a LandRover before, let alone off-road, and he not only

takes to it, but loves it. His grinning enthusiasm is peppered

with cheerfulexpletives as he wrestles with thesteering kick-

back, to a background of me occasionallyreminding him to

keep his footwell awayfrom the clutch. And he is much more

competent than me at finding the gears.

With the adrenalin easing off, from the passenger seat I can

now appreciate thestunning views that the Lake District offers.

Off-roading is a lovely way toexplore

the area ifyou’re not a hiking enthusiast.

Many of ourroutes are shared with

walkers, some of the hardcore of whom

thinkvehicles should be banned from

off-roading, and with whom Kankku is

locked in an ongoing battle.

It seems a bit unfair, as our tyre-tracks

are avery modest footprint and, in the

course of the day, wescarcelyeven brush

a branch. Assurances the flyer gavethat

“Kankkuworks with the terrain; our in-

telligent driving techniques ensureyou

respect the spectacular landscape asyou

explore,” were, in fact, spot-on and Brian

is an subtle butexcellent guide.But walkers havea lot of sway

and, Brian tells us, of the original 3000 km of the Lake District’s

off-roadingroutes onceavailable, only 1800 km nowremain ac-

cessible to the motorvehicle.

So, was itworth the money? Absolutely.Not least because

someone else is shouldering the maintenance costs associated

with off-roading and I’m not risking the halfshafts of myown

vehicle. I’m notexactly sold on aLWB – therear-tub of the De-

fender seemed tostretch out behind me forever and once neces-

sitated anexcruciating three-point-turn in theroad.But, after

such a brilliant day out, I am definitelyre-sold on off-roading,

andPete is a firm LandRover convert.

“Off -roading is

a lovely way to

explore theLake

District ifyou’re not a

hiking enthusiast”

Roving Reporter

Rediscovering off-roading

THOMWESTCOTT